Love Me When You Can
by MizFortune
Summary: Never mind sleeping for a few hundred years to get her prince- she'd take it. A murderous stepmother wouldn't be so bad if he came to save her at the end.


Love Me When You Can  
A Bittersweet Story  
Based on Kate Voegele's song, "Forever and Almost Always."  
Disclaimer: I do not own the song this story is based on, nor do I claim to own the characters used in it.

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Music is a part of the essences of our souls, a part of everyone- even the smartest witch of her generation, Miss Hermione Jane Granger.

No singing lessons, no vocal coach, no magic. Just pure practice and talent. It's not like anyone outside her family knows.

This was the one thing she hasn't told Harry, or Ron, or Ginny, and neither does she want to. Everyone's entitled to their own little secrets, right?

So, here she was, in the Hogwarts Music Room, all alone. She could feel the music in the air, the piano next to her beckoning. She couldn't help it- she sat down on the piano stool and started playing.

She didn't play Mozart, she didn't play Tchaikovsky. She played with her heart, poured all of her heart and soul into pure music- pure happiness, sadness, love, hate, longings and dreams. Pure _hope_.

She added words into the music, not really thinking. Just feeling. She sang what felt right to sing, what she felt in her heart.

_So the story goes on down the less traveled road  
It's a variation on the one I was  
And although it's not the same, it's awful close_

She thought of her childhood, all those stories her mother told her of. Fairytales. They were so real to her then, like they are now. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White. She wished she had a life like theirs. Never mind sleeping for a few hundred years to get her prince- she'd take it. A murderous stepmother wouldn't be so bad if **he** came to save her at the end.

_In an ordinary fairy tale land, there's a promise of a perfect happy end  
And I imagine having just short of that is better than nothing_

He's always been there for her, ever since that encounter with the troll. They've been through basilisks, Azkaban, Dementors, Death Eaters, werewolves, time traveling, the TriWizard Tournament, and Dolores Umbridge. Through it all, they've always manged to keep their friendship intact- stronger, even.

_So you'll be mine, forever and almost always  
And I'll be fine, just love me when you can  
And I'll wait patiently, I'll wake up every day  
Just hoping that you still care_

She's seen the way he started to notice girls, most particularly Cho Chang. She loathed the way he looked at her, the way he "accidentally" bumps into her in between classes, and looking for every excuse to see her. She put on a fake smile and a brave face to match every time her comes to her for advice on how to get Cho's attention, but the advice she gave him was true enough. She couldn't bring herself to see him sad.

_In the corner of my mind, I know too well  
That, surely, even I deserve the best  
But instead of leaving, I just put the issue to bed, and out of my head_

So she loved him from afar, that's as close as she'll ever be. She knows she deserves to be happy, but she couldn't bring herself to slap Harry in the face for being so blind, all these years, and confess her feelings. Their friendship meant too much to her. She couldn't bear it if it was lost.

_And just when I believe you've changed for good  
You go and prove me wrong, just like I knew you would  
When I run out of second chances, you give me that look, and you're off the hook_

Like all friends, they've had their fights. Some times it would be about how he never seems to do his schoolwork, at times it would be about how he pays Cho too much attention. The way he apologizes is always different, but the one thing that stays the same is that look he gives her that shows genuine sadness and vulnerability that she couldn't bring herself to crush. They always end up forgiving each other.

_It ain't right to just love me when you can  
Ain't gonna wait patiently, I won't wake up everyday, just hoping that you still care_

She knows he loves her, but it wasn't the way that she loves him. She loves him more than he, or anyone else, can ever imagine, and she loves him like no one knows. It was criminal. The pain she suffers when he drones on about Cho Chang was torture. She cries in the middle of the night thinking of the future she could never have with him.

She sighed.

"You'd never know how much I love you," she said mournfully, as the tears she held back for years started pouring out of her eyes all at once.

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So...good? Bad? What?

Make my day and review!


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